“We have seen more and more foreclosed properties in the North Country in recent years due to the recession, and the challenges are numerous,” Assemblywoman Russell said.
“It's an issue that is on the minds of local elected officials from Watertown to Massena in the 116th Assembly District. They place financial strain on our local governments, reduce the quality of life and negatively impact the surrounding houses and pose potential health risks in our neighborhoods,” she noted.
The bill, known as the “New York State Abandoned Property Relief Act of 2016,” would improve early detection and maintenance of abandoned and vacant residential properties (A.6932-A).
The bill would also:
• Expand the existing duty of a mortgagee to maintain vacant residential real property to include “pre-foreclosure” vacant properties;
• Require periodic inspections to determine whether properties secured by a delinquent mortgage have actually been abandoned;
• Allow localities and the Attorney General to enforce the maintenance of property requirements; and
• Create a statewide registry for abandoned residential property under the supervision of the state Attorney General and a toll-free hotline for community residents to report the presence of such properties.
Massena Village Trustee Matthew J. LeBire, who has been working on the issue with code enforcement officials in his community for the past several months, said code officials had filed a report in 2015 indicating there were 159 vacant properties in Massena.
Those properties included 56 that had been foreclosed on and another 25 were being investigated as possibly being in the foreclosure process at the time the report was filed.
Meanwhile, the Development Authority of the North Country has hired a Buffalo-area consultant to review housing trends and to analyze the housing market in the city of Watertown.
Watertown Mayor Joseph Butler Jr., who requested the study, has expressed concerns about the number of vacant and foreclosed properties in the city of Watertown since first taking office in January.
RealtyTrac reports there are 233 properties in Watertown that are in some stage of foreclosure, ranging from bank owned to default. RealtyTrac also noted the number of properties in Watertown receiving a foreclosure notice last month was 125 percent higher than the same time last year.
That same website reported the number of properties in some stage of foreclosure in other North Country communities in April ranged from 91 in Massena and 42 in Ogdensburg to 22 in Potsdam, 15 in Canton, 14 in Clayton and 10 each in Alexandria Bay and Sackets Harbor.
St. Lawrence County Acting County Treasurer Renee Cole said it is difficult to gauge the number of vacant properties in the region.
She said St. Lawrence County currently has less than 280 properties that owe two or more years of back taxes, with 30 to 35 of those properties being in Massena.
Other zombie property measures passed by the state Assembly this week aimed at protecting homeowners’ rights, including clarifying provisions of law relating to mandatory settlement conferences in residential foreclosure actions (A.1298) and extending the right to challenge the legality of a foreclosure proceeding, allowing that it be exercised at any point during the process (A.247).